The Chron’s Jennifer Friedberg reports that the Kirby Drive expansion has run into a problem:
A design error could set back the start date for half of Segment 4 from Bissonnet to U.S. 59 by about two years, possibly costing the city an extra $1 million or more and involving a 15-foot condemnation of businesses on the east side or both sides of Kirby.
With Segment 3 from Swift to Robinhood in progress and Segment 4 from Robinhood to U.S. 59 in the design phase, design engineer firm Brown & Gay Engineers Inc. realized several months ago it had miscalculated the amount of land the city of Houston has and what it needs to finish off the project.
Specifically, the snafu was that Brown & Gay believed Houston had a 100-foot right of way to work with from Bissonnet north to U.S. 59.
That assumption was off by 15 feet in five spots on Kirby, with designers believing the city owned a uniform 15-foot segment between the curb and business property lines.
The areas where Houston does not own that 15 feet include the land in front of Helfman River Oaks Chrysler Jeep, Charisma Car Wash, Burger King, Goode Company Barbecue, and a sliver of land between Goode Co. and the Burger King.
So now Segment 4 is being divided into Phases A and B, breaking at Bissonnet. Phase B is being redesigned.
UPDATE: I’m amused: A reader notes that the West U and River Oaks Examiners carried this story on April 29th, so the Chron was actually reporting some serious “olds.”
And of course, then there’s me posting on the olds and not having been aware of when it was news. Ah well.
